Neil Young - Sugar Mountain-Live At Canterbury House 1968 (CD/DVD-A)
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Free Music Notes for Sugar Mountain-Live At Canterbury House 1968 (CD/DVD-A)
Free Music Review: Oh to live on Sugar Mountain With the barkers and the coloured balloons
Hit: 5 Stars
Sugar Mountain is a recording of a solo concert Neil Young did in 1968, just after leaving Buffalo Springfield and embarking on a solo career--not to mention being the 4th member of Crosby, Stills, & Nash. Between songs Mr. Young rambles, but though you might not want to listen to these interludes every time, they provide insight into the mindset of young Neil Percival Young. They reveal a lot about his approach to songwriting, as when he explains that a song like Mr. Soul just came to him, as if he were a radio antannae. It really has that kind of spontaneous feeling, what with the unusual rhyme pattern and wordplay, yet it just flows out like Neil tapped some kind of artesian well:
I was down on a frown
when the messenger
brought me a letter
I was raised by the praise
of a fan
who said I upset her
Any girl in the world
could have easily
known me better
She said, You're strange,
but don't change,
and I let her.
The title track, Sugar Mountain, is a song that he wrote a long time ago, and hadn't played in about 5 years. Yet, it is a perfect gem of a song, and a perfect take. The track was included on Neil's Decade album set, and he also does a live version released on the Live Rust album. This song is so perfect I had to ask for Sugar Mountain for Christmas. Neil tunes his Martin guitar down a full step to play this, and it uses just a few simple but pretty chords. It is a wistful lament for the lost innocence of childhood, but it evokes that feeling so powerfully that it is awesome and amazing. The chorus just keeps repeating interspersed with simple couplets that advance the narrative, while leaving plenty of room for the imagination to fill in:
It's so noisy at the fair but all your friends are there,
And the candy floss you had, and your mother and your dad.
Oh to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the coloured balloons
You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain
Though you're thinking that you're leaving there too soon
You're leaving there too soon.
Now you're underneath the stairs and you're giving back some glares
To the people you once met and it's your first cigarette.
Sugar Mountain is simple and perfect, a wonderful song that haunts you, and how did he do it? He makes it sound so easy, but did an angel whisper it into his ear?
On the Way Home is a song he did with Buffalo Springfield, but with just Neil's high voice and his guitar, it sounds even better. The opening line to me seems to describe his songwriting process:
When the dream came, I held my breath with my eyes closed
I went insane, like a smoke ring day when the wind blows
There is a lot of great music on this, and a chance to hear a portrait of Young, the artist, as a young man. A lot of the same themes run through his music--maybe it is all just one big song. He uses lots of imagery from Nature with a capital "N." This thread continues in a song called Birds:
When you see me fly away without you
Shadow on the things you know
Feathers fall around you
And show you the way to go
It's over
It's over
Lucky for us, though the concert at Canterbury House is over, thanks to this audio document we are able to hear it again. There are actually 2 discs, but one is the same concert in Audio DVD format. It is some kind of High Fidelity audio format, but it would not play for me either on a DVD player or on my computer. I thought it would be a film of the concert, but don't think there is a film. They do have film on Live at Massey Hall, another archive release from a few years later, in 1971. That one, I hear, has gaps in the visual record, and to fill them they just run tape of a tape recorder recording. Even if it is the actual tape recorder that recorded the show, who wants to look at that? The Sugar Mountain DVD has just a picture of Neil's face from the CD cover, but there is snow falling over it (I was able to watch the DVD but the sound was very unstable, it wasn't playing properly and started warbling). Anyway, look at it as an extra bonus DVD, but don't be disappointed that it doesn't have any film of the concert. It is just the same concert in a different format. The price is just for the CD, so even if you can't use DVD-A format, it is just icing on the cake, or Sugar on the Mountain, I guess.
Buffalo Springfield
Buffalo Springfield Again
Last Time Around
Live at Massey Hall 1971
Decade
Neil Young
After the Gold Rush
4 Way Street
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Rust Never Sleeps - The Concert Film
Free Music Review: The "V" in "DVD"
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm stunned by all the negative reviews that Neil is "ripping people off" by including a DVD that doesn't have video. The clue train has left the station without you all. The "V" in "DVD" is for "versatile" (or so it was originally designated), not for "video." It was a "versatile" disc because the developers intended it to be used in many ways, and in many devices. You can use it to read and write data on your computer. Use it to play movies or video games. Or, as Neil has opted to do, give his fans a copy of this intimate evening in PCM format on the DVD.
PCM is to CD audio as mp3 is to wav, i.e. it's the uncompressed, lossless music. Neil's always been about the quality of the music. Even after the "demise" of vinyl, eclipsed by compact discs, Neil was still releasing high-quality vinyl versions of his albums for the audiophiles. The DVD is for the audiophiles who have the equipment to support it. "Chrome Dreams II" suffered similar complaints.
With that being said, the content is great. Just Neil and his guitar, talking and singing. If you enjoyed the "MTV Unplugged" album, or the "Silver and Gold" DVD, this is the same thing, acoustic versions of his songs. While the later releases feature Neil on piano, organ, and harmonica, in addition to his guitar, the bare guitar versions here allow Neil's lyrics and vocals to shine. His singing is in perfect form, clear and delicate, almost tentative, as if he's not sure about the whole solo-artist-singer-songwriter thing after breaking with Buffalo Springfield. People complain about his "rambling" song introductions. Maybe they do ramble a bit and break the continuity of the music, but they're fun to listen to. He plays a line of music that would later turn out to be "Winterlong," remarking that he "just made that up." I'll take that with a grain of salt, as well as his contention that it only took him "five minutes" to write "Mr. Soul." His songs have a quality and craftsmanship that doesn't come in five minutes.
His "Archives Vol. I" is coming out in both Blu Ray and DVD. I don't have a Blu Ray player, yet. This just might be the tipping point. I'm looking forward to a lot more vintage Neil.
Free Music Review: WHY DOESN'T NEIL DO EVERYTHING I WANT???
Hit: 5 Stars
I AM REALLY APPALLED AT THIS RELEASE. HERE I AM, HIS ULTIMATE FAN, AND NEIL NEVER DOES EXACTLY WHAT I WANT SO THEREFORE I WILL RETALIATE ABOUT IT ON MY REVIEW. SINCE NO ONE IS MORE OF A FAN THAN I AM, WHY, WHY, WHY CAN'T I GET EXACTLY WHAT I WANT?? FIRST OFF, I SAW THE THREE LETTERS "D", "V", AND "D" SIDE-BY-SIDE SOMEWHERE ON THE COVER SO, WHY ISN'T THERE A PRISTINE VIDEORECORDING OF THE SAME CONCERT INCLUDED?? FORGET THE FACT THAT THE CONCERT WASN'T EVEN VIDEOTAPED - AND FORGET THE FACT THAT THERE IS A STICKER ON THE FRONT STATING THAT THE EXTRA CD IS AUDIO - I AM SO MUCH OF A FAN THAT I EXPECTED MORE!! MORE!! MORE!! AND THIS IS FALSE ADVERTISING EVEN IF IT WASN'T ADVERTISED AT ALL!! I AM SO MUCH OF A FAN THAT I CANNOT READ THE DESCRIPTIONS OF WHAT IS INCLUDED IN HIS RELEASES BECAUSE I SPEND TOO MUCH TIME BEING HIS NUMBER ONE FAN!!!
NOW ONTO THE TAPE ITSELF. WHY WHY WHY DIDN'T NEIL HIRE ME, HIS BIGGEST FAN, TO PERSONALLY CLEAN UP AND SOUND ENGINEER HIS FIRST SOLO CONCERT RECORDING?? I COULD HAVE DONE A MUCH BETTER JOB THAN THE GUY HE'S BEEN USING FOR 40 YEARS. AND HASN'T HE EVER HEARD OF OTHER LIVE RECORDINGS BY THE GRATEFUL DEAD WHICH HAVE NO TAPE HISS? THERE IS A GRATEFUL DEAD CONCERT FROM 1968 THAT HAS NO TAPE HISS, AND IT IS COMPLETELY IRRATIONAL THAT THIS RECORDING, FROM THE SAME YEAR, HAS TAPE HISS!! 1968 WAS A YEAR OF NO TAPE HISS AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY HE CAN'T MAKE HIS RECORDING MORE PERFECT FOR ME! ME! ME! THE TAPE HISS INTERFERES WITH MY ABILITY TO ENJOY MUSIC!!! WHY WHY WHY??!?!?!
I THOUGHT FOR SURE SINCE HE JUST RELEASED A LIVE RECORDING FROM 1971 THAT IT WOULD SOUND EXACTLY LIKE THAT RECORDING, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHY - I JUST EXPECTED IT WITHOUT KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT IT, OR CONSIDERING THAT THEY WERE RECORDED THREE YEARS APART IN DIFFERENT CITIES ON DIFFERENT RECORDING EQUIPMENT, SO I WILL SIT HERE AND WHINE ABOUT IT ANYWAY!! WHY?? WHY!!!
NEIL HAS COMPLETELY DAMAGED HIS REPUTATION AS AN ARTIST AND HIS 40+ YEAR CAREER IS ON THE ROCKS BECAUSE I, HIS NUMBER ONE FAN, DIDN'T TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE STICKER ON THE FRONT!!!!!!!! APPALLING!! I DEMAND A PERSONAL APOLOGY!!
Free Music Review: DVD is not just for video people!!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is another release from the Neil Young Archive Performance Series, which was recorded in November in 1968 at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor Michigan. This live show produced the other side to the "The Loner" single in 1969. The recording was made not too long after his final departure from the Buffalo Springfield and before his first self-titled album so most of the songs hear are being heard by the audience for the first time. Due to the format at the time (portable reel-to-reel) and the intimate nature of the venue there is some tape hiss audible but not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the music. Look at it as an historical document.
To make it clear as possible:
1. This set comes as a CD/DVD package!
2. The CD is in standard audio!
3. The DVD contains the same program in High Resolution audio just like the previous releases in this series!
4. The only "video" on the DVD is a trailer for the "Neil Young Archives Vol.1 (1963-1972) box set. The rest is just images and menu options!
5. There was never a film of this concert to the best of my knowledge!
6. You are getting (2) discs (one for the car and the other for your home) for $14.99. That is LESS than a regular CD! To those who have complained about being "ripped off," you people are NUTS!
According to a Q & A on the Neil Young fan-site "Thrasher's Wheat" this set and the previous releases in the "Performance Series" will be included in the often-delayed "Neil Young Archive Box Set Vol. 1 1963-1972." And if you were wondering why certain songs are on not some of the NYAPS releases is probably due to the fact that it was held back and to be used for the Blue Ray version. You will be able to download content via the internet and included it into the "timeline" which is a feature only with the Blue Ray version. So "I Am A Child" from the "Canterbury House" recordings may be used for that purpose.
So as for "Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968" Buy it, sit back, SHUT UP! and enjoy the music.
Free Music Review: Canterbury House still rocks!
Hit: 5 Stars
As the current Chaplain of Canterbury House, I can offer a little bit of history on this performance.
Canterbury House was then and is now the Episcopal campus ministry at the University of Michigan. In 1968 the Chaplains were the Revs. Dan Burke and Martin Bell, and the student House Manager was Ed Reynolds. These three remarkable persons turned Canterbury House into an innovative coffee house ministry, oriented toward those who were turned off to all things establishment, including main-line churches. The stellar musicians who performed here included Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, Odetta, Tom Rush, Gordon Lightfoot, the Byrds, and Janis Joplin. Many of these concerts were recorded, and the tapes given to the artists. The venue was intimate, as can clearly be heard on this recording of Neil Young's performance here on Saturday, 9 November 1968. This was his first performance as a solo artist after the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, and indeed this recording includes many of the songs that were hits for the group, including "On The Way Home," "Mr. Soul" and "Broken Arrow." All of the songs on this album, stripped to the bare essentials of voice and guitar, demonstrate the purity and simplicity that has made Neil Young a wonderful songwriter for decades. The dialogue on the recording demonstrates a youthful shyness and a natural ability to connect with his audience.
Canterbury House remains to this day a venue for prophetic music. Our concert series features primarily jazz and experimental idioms. Those of us who were young people in 1968, Neil Young included, "can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain" any more; but it's nice to know Sugar Mountain is still there.
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